Economy

Economy—overview: Poor and backward by European standards, Albania is making the difficult transition to a more modern open-market economy. The government has taken measures to curb violent crime and to spur economic activity and trade. The economy is bolstered by remittances from abroad of $400-$600 million annually, mostly from Greece and Italy; this helps offset the sizable trade deficit. Agriculture, which accounts for one-half of GDP, is held back because of frequent drought and the need to modernize equipment and consolidate small plots of land. Severe energy shortages and antiquated and inadequate infrastructure make it difficult to attract and sustain foreign investment. The government plans to boost energy imports to relieve the shortages and is moving slowly to improve the poor national road and rail network, a long-standing barrier to sustained economic growth.
note: Albania has a large gray economy that may be as large as 50% of official GDP.

GDP—real growth rate: 5% (2006 est.)

GDP—per capita: $5,600 (2006 est.)

GDP—composition by sector:

agriculture: 23.3%

industry: 18.8%

services: 57.9% (2006 est.)

Inflation rate—consumer price index: 2.8% (2006 est.)

Labor force:

total: 1.442 million (2004 est.) (including 352 000 emigrant workers.)

by occupation:

agriculture: 58%
industry: 19%
services: 23% (2004 est.)

Unemployment rate: 14.3% official rate, but may exceed 30% due to preponderance of near-subsistence farming (2005 est.) 

Budget:

revenues: $2.323 billion
expenditures: $2.587 billion; including capital expenditures of $500 million (2006 est.)

Industries: food processing, textiles and clothing; lumber, oil, cement, chemicals, mining, basic metals, hydropower

Industrial production growth rate: 3.1% (2004 est.)

Electricity—production: 5.434 billion kWh (2004)

Electricity—consumption: 5.231 billion kWh (2004) 

Agriculture—products: wheat, corn, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, sugar beets, grapes; meat, dairy products

Exports:

total value: $763.2 million f.o.b. (2006 est.)  

commodities: textiles and footwear; asphalt, metals and metallic ores, crude oil; vegetables, fruits, tobacco

partners: Italy 72.4%, Greece 10.5%, Serbia and Montenegro 5% (2005)

Imports:

total value: $2.901 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

commodities: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, textiles, chemicals

partners: Italy 29.3%, Greece 16.4%, Turkey 7.5%, China 6.6%, Germany 5.4%, Russia 4% (2005) 

Debt—external: $1.55 billion (2004)

Economic aid:

recipient: ODA: $366 million (top donors were Italy, EU, Germany) (2003 est.) Currency: lek (ALL)
note: the plural of lek is leke 

Exchange rates: leke per US dollar - 98.5927 (2006), 102.649 (2005), 102.78 (2004), 121.863 (2003), 140.155 (2002)

Fiscal year: calendar year